Wireless Communication Setup for Wireless Power Transfer for Electric Vehicles

Abstract

A method for pairing a vehicle to a wireless power transfer (WPT) station and determining their relative location using ultra-wideband (UWB) signaling is described. A Master UWB Tag transmits a Ping message and a Master UWB Anchor transmits a Pong message. The Master Tag and Master Anchor use single-sided two-way ranging (SS-TWR) or double-sided two-way ranging (DS-TWR) to determine the distance between them. The Master Tag and the Master Anchor exchange setup parameters to establish communication between the vehicle and the WPT station and determine their relative position. Each UWB tag and each UWB anchor in the WPT station determine a distance between each tag and each anchor. Based on the distances between tags and anchors and data describing the position of each anchor within the WPT station, a relative position of the vehicle and the WPT station is determined.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for pairing a vehicle having a plurality of ultra-wideband (UWB) tags to a wireless power transfer (WPT) station having a first plurality of UWB anchors, the method comprising:
 at a Master Tag of the plurality of UWB tags, transmitting a first Ping message;   at a Master Anchor of the first plurality of UWB anchors, receiving the first Ping message and transmitting a first Pong message;   at the Master Tag, receiving the first Pong message;   at the Master Tag, transmitting a first Poll message;   at the Master Anchor, receiving the first Poll message and transmitting a first Response message;   based on the first Response message, determining a distance between the Master Tag and the Master Anchor; and   communicating setup parameters between the Master Tag and the Master Anchor to establish ongoing communications between the vehicle and the WPT station.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the setup parameters comprise a sync-code randomly selected from a list of existing sync-codes by the Master Tag. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the setup parameters comprise a station-to-station (STS)-Key generated by the Master Anchor. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the Master Anchor transmits the first Pong message at a randomly determined time slot. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first Poll message and the first Response message are used to determine the distance using a single-sided two-way ranging (SS-TWR) process. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first Poll message and the first Response message are used to determine the distance using a double-sided two-way ranging (DS-TWR) process. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 continuously determining an updated relative position between the vehicle and the WPT station.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein:
 the setup parameters include information describing a position of each UWB anchor within the WPT station; and   continuously determining the updated relative position comprises:
 interleaving double-sided two-way ranging (DS-TWR) messages between each UWB tag of the plurality of tags and each UWB anchor within the station; 
 based on the DS-TWR messages, determining the distance between each UWB tag and each UWB anchor; and 
 based on the determined distances between the UWB tags and the UWB anchors and the position of each UWB anchor within the WPT station, determining the relative position of the vehicle with respect to the WPT station. 
   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 establishing ongoing communications between the vehicle and the WPT station comprises joining a Wi-Fi transceiver of the vehicle to a Wi-Fi network with which the WPT station is also in communication.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 establishing ongoing communications between the vehicle and the WPT station comprises establishing a persistent data connection between the plurality of UWB tags and the first plurality of UWB anchors.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 at a second Master Anchor of a second plurality of UWB anchors at a second WPT station, receiving the first Ping message and transmitting a second Pong message;   at the Master Tag, receiving the second Pong message;   at the Master Tag, transmitting a second Poll message;   at the second Master Anchor, receiving the second Poll message and transmitting a second Response message; and   based on the first Response message and the second Response message, selecting whichever of the first and second WPT stations is closer to the vehicle,   wherein communicating setup parameters between the Master Tag and the Master Anchor comprises communicating the setup parameters between the Master Tag and a corresponding Master Anchor of the selected WPT station to establish ongoing communications between the vehicle and the selected WPT station.   
     
     
         12 . A method for pairing a vehicle having a plurality of ultra-wideband (UWB) tags to a wireless power transfer (WPT) station having a first plurality of UWB anchors, the method comprising:
 at a Master Tag of the plurality of UWB tags:
 transmitting a first Ping message; 
 receiving a first Pong message and determining that the first Pong message was transmitted by a Master Anchor of the first plurality of UWB anchors; and 
 transmitting a first Poll message and receiving a first Response message from the Master Anchor; 
   at the vehicle, based on the first Response message, determining a distance between the Master Tag and the Master Anchor; and   at the Master Tag, exchanging setup parameters with the Master Anchor to establish ongoing communications between the vehicle and the WPT station.   
     
     
         13 . A method for pairing a vehicle having a plurality of ultra-wideband (UWB) tags to a wireless power transfer (WPT) station having a first plurality of UWB anchors, the method comprising:
 at a Master Anchor of the plurality of UWB anchors:
 receiving a first Ping message from a Master Tag of the plurality of UWB tags; 
 transmitting a first Pong message; 
 receiving a first Poll message from the Master Tag; 
 transmitting a first Response message; and 
 exchanging setup parameters with the Master Tag to establish ongoing communications between the vehicle and the WPT station. 
   
     
     
         14 . A system, comprising:
 a vehicle having a wireless power transfer (WPT) system and a plurality of ultra-wideband (UWB) tags, the plurality of UWB tags comprising a Master Tag;   a WPT station having a first plurality of UWB anchors, the plurality of UWB tags comprising a Master Anchor;   a first processor in the vehicle, configured to cause the Master Tag to transmit a first Ping message, receive a first Pong message in response to the first Ping message, transmit a first Poll message, and receive a first Response message in response to the first Poll message; and   a second processor in the WPT station, configured to cause the Master Anchor to transmit the first Pong message in response to receiving the first Ping message, and transmit the first Response message in response to receiving the first Poll message,   wherein the first processor is further configured to:
 in response to the Master Tag receiving the first Response message, determine a distance between the Master Tag and the Master Anchor based on the first Response message; and 
 use the Master Tag to exchange setup parameters with the Master Anchor to establish ongoing communications between the vehicle and the WPT station. 
   
     
     
         15 . A wireless power transfer (WPT) system for use in a vehicle, comprising:
 a plurality of ultra-wideband (UWB) tags, the plurality of UWB tags comprising a Master Tag; and   a processor, configured to:
 cause the Master Tag to transmit a first Ping message and receive Pong messages; 
 in response to each Pong message received by the Master Tag, determine whether the Pong message was transmitted by a Master Anchor associated with a WPT station in response to the first Ping message; 
 in response to a determination that a selected ranging echo was transmitted by the Master Anchor in response to the first Ping message, use single-sided two-way ranging (SS-TWR) or double-sided two-way ranging (DS-TWR) to determine a distance between the Master Tag and the Master Anchor that transmitted the selected ranging echo, the distance determined based on the selected ranging echo; and 
 in response to a determination that a selected Master Anchor is within a threshold distance of the Master Tag, use the Master Tag to exchange setup parameters with the selected Master Anchor to establish ongoing communications between the vehicle and the WPT station associated with the selected Master Anchor. 
   
     
     
         16 . A wireless power transfer (WPT) station for use with a vehicle having a WPT system, the WPT station comprising:
 a plurality of ultra-wideband (UWB) anchors, the plurality of UWB anchors comprising a Master Anchor; and   a processor configured to:
 cause the Master Anchor to transmit a Pong message in response to receiving a first Ping message from a Master Tag associated with the vehicle; 
 cause the Master Anchor to participate in single-sided two-way ranging (SS-TWR) or double-sided two-way ranging (DS-TWR) with the Master Tag; and 
 use the Master Anchor to exchange setup parameters with the Master Tag to establish ongoing communications between the WPT station and the vehicle associated with the Master Tag.